Council committee recommends lower MCPS operating, capital budgets

...The school board asked for $84.7 million above maintenance of effort, according to school system spokesman Dana Tofig.
Incorporating proposals from Leggett and the school board to pull money from various sources, the budget plan the Education Committee recommended still leaves a gap.
The budget would pull about $33.2 million from the district’s fund balance. Another $27.2 million would come from the Consolidated Other Post Employment Benefits Trust to pay some of the school system’s retiree health costs.
The district also would reduce a contribution to its pension plan by $10 million and use the money elsewhere.
On the capital budget side, the Education Committee endorsed a plan the school system created that sits about $210 million below what the school board requested in November for its fiscal 2015-20 Capital Improvements Program.
The board asked for an amended capital program totaling $1.75 billion. Its request was $223.3 million higher than the previously approved program of $1.53 billion...

...The district also would not add a requested $32 million bus depot project. Instead, the committee recommended adding $700,000 for planning work as school and county officials search for opportunities to relocate the depot...

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